Vol. 14 No. 1
February 2003

Editor: Jennifer Berry, Agricultural Research Coordinator

Georgia
Bee Letter Returns

We have re-instated the Georgia Bee Letter!
It was brought to our attention by Georgia Beekeepers Association
President PN Williams that GBL provides good information and
an important link between Georgia's beekeepers and the UGA bee program.
If you would prefer receiving GBL electronically please send
me your e-mail address (jbee@bugs.ent.uga.edu).
This way we can zip the Georgia Bee Letter to you without delay. It's
good to be back.

The
University of Georgia Honey Bee Lab is proud to announce the newest
addition to our program, Nabor Mendizabal. Nabor received his undergraduate
degree from his home country of Bolivia. Currently, Nabor is pursuing
his master's degree under the direction of Dr. Keith Delaplane. The
following abstract describes his thesis work currently being conducted
at UGA.

The Florida beekeeping industry reported that in six months 2500 colonies
had collapsed due to SHB infestation and 10,000 after just two years
of its introduction. In African honey bee races, which use four times
more propolis that European ones, there is evidence of high tolerance
to pests like Varroa mites and SHBs. The Cape honey bees in South Africa
control SHBs by encapsulating them; in other words they imprison beetles
in traps made of propolis. The present study aims to evaluate the heritability
of this imprisoning behavior (IB) in European honey bees and its correlation
with propolis hoarding. In order to achieve this goal, we have designed
a selection program and a way to quantify IB. Twenty colonies are being
tested for propolis hoarding using standard propolis traps. Additionally,
we are testing for IB with specially designed cages that permit contact
between honey bees and beetles. This gives us the ability to measure
imprisoning response by bees. The queens for the next generation will
be selected from colonies that express the highest rate of IB. We expect
to have four generations of selection in two years.

2003 Young
Harris Beekeeping Institute Scheduled for May 29-31

Young
Harris College and the University of Georgia are offering the twelfth
annual Beekeeping Institute at Young Harris College May 29-31. Since
its inception in 1992, the Institute has grown to become the largest
and most comprehensive beekeeping educational event in the Southeast.
In addition to its dual track program for beginners and experts, training
and certification for the Master Beekeeper Journeyman level and Welsh
Honey Judges Certificate will take place the first day of the event,
May 29th, with certificates being awarded on Saturday the 31st. Facility
limitations force us to cap enrollment to 150, therefore if you are
interested in attending this year's event we urge you to pre-register.
Registration information should be available by early March. Registration
information will also be posted on our website at www.ent.uga.edu/bees.

In
1999, Dr. Delaplane and Dr. Mike Hood (Clemson University) developed
an economic threshold for Varroa destructor for our region
which was defined as an overnight sticky sheet mite count of 59-187
mites. A threshold like this allows beekeepers the ability to monitor
their own colonies for mite buildup and to determine if and when treatment
with toxic miticides is warranted. By delaying treatments, we can
effectively reduce mites' resistance to miticides. This occurs because
we remove the selection pressure of acute toxins on mites and allow
them a maximum number of mite generations between treatments, thus
conserving genes for miticide susceptibility. Many workers are identifying
Integrated Pest Management practices that may delay economic thresholds.
The present study focuses on three: apiary isolation, heritable honey
bee hygienic behavior, and bottom screens. This research is part of
a three-state project in collaboration with W.M. Hood from South Carolina,
J.P. Parkman and J.A. Skinner from Tennessee.

In June 2001 forty Langstroth colonies were set up
from packages in Habersham County, Georgia and each randomly assigned
an experimental treatment so that every combination of the following
main effects was replicated five times: (1) isolated apiary or non-isolated,
(2) hygienic-selected queen or non-selected, and (3) screen bottom
board or conventional solid bottom board.

The type of hive bottom significantly affected mite
drop; average mite drop was significantly lower in colonies with screens
(12.4±1.4) than in colonies with conventional bottoms (20.3±3.3).
As the expression of hygienic behavior increased mite drop decreased.
This mite infestation level reduction in colonies with bottom screens
translates into a 2-month extension for a colony before reaching the
economic threshold. In other words it allows the beekeeper to delay
treating for two months with toxic chemicals, thereby extending the
life of the acaricide and reducing resistance.

None of the colony strength parameters measured in
April 2002 - quantity of bees, brood, honey and pollen - was shown
to be significant, however, the following data should be noted. Screened
bottom boards had an average of 3.2 deep frames of brood, 5.1 frames
of adult bees, 2.5 frames of honey and pollen. This compares to the
data shown for conventional bottom boards, which had an average of
2.7 deep frames of brood, 4.3 frames of adult bees, 1.4 frames of
honey and pollen.

Honey
Bees Improve Pollination of Rabbiteye Blueberry, 'Climax'

Dr.
Delaplane's graduate student, Selim Dedej, is wrapping up his doctoral
degree and will be leaving us this August. Selim's research focused
on honey bee pollination of rabbiteye blueberry. The following describes
one of his projects that was recently presented at the 2002 North
American Apicultural Research Symposium, Niagara Falls, Ontario.

To investigate the influence of different population
densities of honey bees on pollination of rabbiteye blueberry var.
'Climax', a 2-year (2000, 2002) study was conducted at the University
of Georgia Horticulture Farm in Oconee County, Georgia. Mature orchard
plants plus potted pollenizers ('Premier') were caged with varying
densities of honey bees (0, 400, 800, 1600, 3200, 6400 or 12800 bees
plus open plot) during the bloom interval. The percentage of legitimate
flower visits tended to increase as bee density increased within a
range of 400 - 6400 bees; there were more legitimate visits in cages
with 6400 bees than in those with 1600 bees. Similarly,
within a range of 400 - 6400 bees there was a trend for an increase
in fruit set with means ranging from 25.0 - 79 percent. Fruit set
was higher in cages with 6400 or 3200 bees than in those with 800
bees. Within a range of 0 - 3200 bees the average seeds / berry tended
to increase with increasing bee density; there were more seeds in
open plots than in cages with 12800 honey bees or 1600 bees. Sucrose
content ranged from 12.1 - 16.7 percent and fruits tended to be sweeter
in cages with lower bee densities; percent sucrose was higher in cages
with 400 bees than in those with 1600 bees or in open plots. Speed
of ripening tended to be higher in cages with higher bee densities,
however this trend was weaker than for the other variables; fruit
ripening was faster in cages with 3200 bees than in those with 1600
bees or in open plots.

The
effectiveness of honey bees as a pollinator of rabbiteye blueberry
is partly variety-dependent. Honey bees were demonstrated to be inefficient
pollinators of 'Tifblue' (Cane & Payne, 1990 Alabama Agric. Exp.
Sta. 37: 4) but effective for 'Climax' (Sampson & Cane, 2000 J.
Econ. Entomol. 93: 1726-1731) based on assays of single-bee flower
visits. Our results support those of Sampson & Cane, confirming
that Apis mellifera is an effective pollinator of 'Climax.'
Our data further indicate that the effectiveness of A. mellifera
is bee density-dependent. Fruit set, seed number, and speed of ripening
increased as bee density and flower visitation rates increased.

International
Travel and Awards

Dr.
Delaplane and I had the opportunity to do some international travel
this past year. In July 2002 Dr. Delaplane traveled to Wales where
he was a session convener for the 6th European Bee Conference
and presented a paper on the small hive beetle problem in the United
States. Later that same month we both traveled to Ireland where Dr.
Delaplane, Towns County Extension Coordinator Robert Brewer and I
were invited to participate in the 2002 Federation of Irish Beekeepers'
Association Summer Course. It was a wonderful journey to the emerald
island and my first time in Europe.

In
November 2002 Dr. Delaplane spent two weeks in Nepal. Winrock, an
international organization dedicated to helping developing nations,
sponsored his trip. Dr. Delaplane inspected apiaries and lectured
on bee genetics and breeding. While he was in the country he was able
to witness many biological and cultural novelties, including eastern
honey bee species Apis cerana and A. dorsata. And then
there were the public human cremations . . .

Finally, I just returned from a trip to Bolivia. It was my
first encounter with Africanized honey bees and to my amazement, they
were not as nasty as I had been told. I found the bees in Ireland
much more
aggressive than the bees in central Bolivia. The only difference I
noticed in the Africanized strain was the persistence of the bees
in following you out of the apiary and down the road and into the
car. Another trait I saw was the uneasiness of the bees and queen
on the comb. They moved rapidly around the frames and in the hive,
making it difficult at times to find the queen. During my stay in
Bolivia, Don Hopkins (North Carolina bee inspector) and I visited
numerous apiaries doing general inspections for disease and mites.
We then presented a short course on honey bee diseases, queen rearing,
extracting, marketing and presenting honey. The trip was sponsored
by Farmer to Farmer program which works with Central and South American
countries. Programs like Winrock and Farmer to Farmer are important
organizations because they help developing nations receive educational
needs they are unable to attain in their country. Their main goal
is to send specialized people into the region and help with different
agricultural systems. My trip was very rewarding and I plan to return
next year to continue with the queen breeding program.

South Carolina
and Maine Receive Section 18 for Api-Life Var

Api-Life Var is an essential oil miticide manufactured
in Italy which has been shown to be effective against Varroa mites
in tests in GA, SC, and TN. The ingredients are naturally occurring
oils, thymol, eucalyptol, camphor and menthol, that are impregnated
into wafers of vermiculite (a substance used in floral arrangements).
Beekeepers in Maine and South Carolina may now purchase Api-Life Var
this spring under a section 18 label. Currently, 30 other states are
being considered for an Experimental Use Permit which includes Georgia,
Florida, Alabama, Tennessee and North Carolina. If you are interested
in helping Georgia receive a section 18 please contact Dr. Michael
Braverman at IR-4. His telephone number is (732) 932-9575. Brushy
Mountain Bee Farm, (800) 233-7929, is the national vendor of the product.

Even
though this is a "natural" product, that doesn't mean it
is safe. Extreme caution must be taken when handling Api-Life Var.
The high concentration of caustic oils means it is an irritant to
the skin, eyes, etc. Moreover, thymol is lethal to bees at high doses
and high temperatures. Once it is approved in Georgia, care must be
taken to use it in strict accordance with label instructions.

How
to Get Georgia Bee Letter

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